According to Tencent News, Vietnam’s National Assembly recently reviewed a draft amendment to the Food Safety Law. Some delegates proposed shifting the focus of oversight to post-market inspections to ease the pressure that could result from having to re-review a large number of products. The discussion centers on how to streamline procedures while balancing food safety requirements with the workload involved in reviews.

Delegates noted that since Decree No. 15 of 2018 took effect, more than 300,000 products have been self-declared in Ho Chi Minh City alone. Re-reviewing these products in batches under the new rules would create considerable pressure. This figure reflects the cumulative number of locally self-declared products; it does not mean that these products have already entered a re-review process.

From a regulatory process perspective, the proposal to shift to post-market inspections concerns how regulatory resources are allocated across different stages. If a large number of existing products have to undergo re-review at the same time, organizing and coordinating the reviews could become an immediate challenge in adjusting the rules. Placing greater emphasis on post-market inspections would also require consideration of how inspections are conducted and how issues identified are handled. The practical value of the discussion, therefore, lies in maintaining effective oversight while reducing the procedural pressure caused by centralized reviews.

For companies dealing with the relevant products, the key issues to watch are whether existing self-declared products will need to be re-reviewed, how the scope will be defined, and how the old and new rules will be coordinated. These arrangements will affect whether companies need to prepare documentation again, as well as the timing and workload of related compliance activities.

At present, shifting to post-market inspections remains a proposal put forward by delegates during the draft’s review. It should not be taken to mean that the regulatory approach has already changed. Going forward, attention should be paid to the draft’s specific provisions on reviews and post-market inspections, particularly how existing products will be handled. These provisions will determine whether the proposed procedural streamlining leads to actual changes in regulation.